SPM Resort Home in Puncak Arabella

The sky was gloomy when we arrived SPM Resort Home in Puncak Arabella, Tanah Rata. The mock Tudor design on a normal bungalow in Cameron Highlands trying to blend in with the often themed building style in this highland but looking a little out of placed from the rows of normal architectured Cameron Highlands bungalows along the street.

Nevertheless, as we were ushered in by the owner, Mr Teng, into his humble house cum guesthouse. We were pleasantly surprised by the homely decor and my wife took a liking to it as she was expecting a typical bare furnished interior as most typical apartments in Cameron Highlands. There was very homely feeling to it as we carried our luggage to our guestroom, passed the many lovely collections of art paintings and decorative vases, earthen wares and wood carving collections.

Mr Teng invited my family over for a weekend stay in SPM Resort Home in Puncak Arabella sometime ago, and I was juggling among my busy schedule of work, church activities and website maintenance of Cameron-Highland-Destination.com. Finally I decided we have to make a go for it before the yearend holiday season starts and that would made it more than difficult to slot in a schedule for a stay as the place would surely be solidly booked. It was a visit that was well worth it and my parents made new friends. Being of similar age, there was quick feeling of mutual kinship as Mr and Mrs Teng and my parents shared their life stories and background.

SPM Resort Home was build in 2004 from the ground up, thus all the bungalows located along the same road in Puncak Arabella will have their own unique design. The bungalows located here are mostly private houses save two, one of which is this SPM Resort Home and the other calling itself Arabella Bungalow Holiday Home. You may call them homestays if you like since it was in a way like staying in a home.

Mr and Mrs Teng build it as a sort of like retirement house with guesthouse facility. Having after passed the SPM (Syarikat Permainan Malaysia) Games Company to his son, Mr Teng retired from running the day to day operations of the SPM game company and decided to build a retirement home in Cameron Highlands. I guest he was still full of vigour and you just can't keep an energetic person down with simple retired lifestyle. So the SPM Resort Home came about and voila, a lodging that is not just your typical accommodation bungalow in Cameron Highlands.

Many of the decorative items were collected along the years and Mr Teng must have spent a small fortune acquiring the beautiful art pieces, Chinas, vases and other wood carvings. Still he did get a good bargain for many of his art collection by keeping a watch out during sales and unusual places. Some of the pot and vases were actually to be thrown away by the factory because nobody else wanted them, and along came Mr Teng who just bought them all cheaply.

As we sat around the living hall admiring the various art paintings hanging from wall to wall all the way up to the ceiling, Mr Teng explained that they have apportioned the house into two areas: one area for guests and the other a private area for themselves, friends and family to stay. All together the SPM Resort Home has 11 rooms including both private and guest rooms. This is no small bungalow to have that many rooms!

Each lodging room area can accommodate many visitors as within the guestrooms is subdivided again with bedrooms and a living room area. The smallest of which can accommodate 6 persons while the larger studio types lodging can accommodate 10 to 12 persons. There were also instances where visitors tried to cram a few extra people to save cost. Of course there was a limit to how many extra persons can live in for a comfortable stay.

Most weekends and holiday season their rooms are booked solid while on a weekday, as it is typically in Cameron Highlands, it becomes vacant and you can get 50% off from their typical room rates ranging from RM400-RM600. The rate is quite affordable if you divide it with the number of people that stay in at one time, very suitable for a group of friends or family gathering. In addition they have a money back guarantee if after your arrival and viewed the place and you don't like to stay in the place they will refund back the money.

Two live in maids help out with the housekeeping of the bungalow and recently, Mr Teng also started a breakfast service, something akin to the bed and breakfast of those western country home lodging! The idea was to have friends and family to hang around and enjoy a breakfast together in a conducive relaxing environment to foster closer relationship, instead of trying to rush off in the morning to hunt for breakfast in some Mamak restaurant in Cameron Highlands.

We had a good hearty breakfast as we sat around his patio located at the back of the bungalow with a nice view of the hills though somewhat marred by the Arabella Apartments, but still good enough. With a morning breeze that was a bit chilly, blue sky, and a hot sun beating on my back, I don't know which way my body was feeling with this varied temperature. We enjoyed the company and the topic ranged from Church activities, family, and even a possible future plan for a self-drive holiday in New Zealand.

A group of guests was having their bed and breakfast in the indoors at that time and I could see they were having a great time chatting and mingling around in the large dining table indoors. They were a group of Salsa dancers who has booked up all the guestrooms for the weekend, sort of like a gathering for people who has the same passion and interest. And after this group, another group of guests who would be doing the Malaysian Book of World Records would be staying for the week doing some activity up in Cameron Highlands.

SPM Resort Home is really popular is one of those little nuggets of accommodation that you find in Cameron Highlands. Unlike those fully commercial run hotels in Cameron Highlands where they advertised very heavily, SPM Resort Home thrives more on word of mouth, press releases and good old PR.

So what can you expect if you decided to give this place a try? The rooms are carpeted, so you won't have to worry about cold feet walking around barefooted. Homely living rooms with fair amount of decorations, and Astro TV (bring your own card if you want to see your favourite channels, like ESPN sports or Wah La Toi and Movies if you can't live without your daily dose of your favourite program), clean bathroom (and they do provide towels too!) with instant hot water showers, coffee and tea making facilities. No cooking though. This one, you have look into their Prima Villa Apartment if you want to do some cooking, though they have a main kitchenin their SPM Resort Home next to their dining hall, but that is for the owner's private use and for cooking up your hearty breakfast if you wish to order your breakfast with them.

Like the place? You can contact them below and find out more about their Cameron Highlands bungalow home:

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